The Perilous Frontier
Barfield, Thomas (Boston University)
Around 800 BC, the Eurasian steppe underwent a profound cultural transformation that was to shape world history for the next 2, 500 years: the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Asia invented cavalry which, with the use of the compound bow, gave them the means to terrorize first their neighbors and ultimately, under Chingis Khan and his descendants, the whole of Asia and Europe. Why and how they did so and to what effect are the themes of this history ...